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A month back I wrote a piece on a fiction author who was pioneering a short fiction work on Twitter (Twitter Novels: Really?), and it seems that this form of tweeting is already picking up some steam and moving towards the beginnings of its own genre.

The term “tweetfic” is starting to gain popularity as a way to describe fictional literature delivered through Twitter. Using the 140 character limit, writers are already testing their versatility and jumping on this opportunity to showcase their skills on this popular new forum.

Working within a rigid structure is nothing new for literature. Haiku’s, a form of japanese poetry are written in metrical phrases of 5, 7, 5. Shakespeare popularized iambic pentameter which consistent of 5 “feet” of stressed and unstressed syllables. These guidelines gave writers a framework to push against that many found very conducive to cohesive creativity. Sometimes ultimate freedom can be a little TOO open and leave writers feeling as if they don’t know where to begin.

Will tweetfic have the same inspirational appeal and lasting power? Perhaps. Several tweetfic publishers have already sprung up trying to be the first to market and snatch up the early adapter audience. Check them out on twitter at @tweetthemeat, @Nanoism, @Thaumatrope, @Outshine, @Picfic, and @Escarp. They all have slightly different angles and modes for delivering (and receiving) new fiction submissions. Time will tell which ones will prove to be most effective.

A new trend is gaining speed big time on twitter recently, known as “FollowFriday”. If you are an active Twitter user it is likely that you have seen the seemingly nonsensical posts similar to this “#followfriday – @johnmarlow, @fairmontchicago, @mavenMKTG, etc, etc”. Basically just the words “followfriday” followed by a bunch of usernames.

What does this mean?

#followfriday is used as an indicator of what that poster feels are good people to follow. One of the major reason people use twitter is to get good information. That said, knowing who to follow can be very valuable. If someone indicates you as someone to follow that means they value your posts and think that others would benefit from following you as well. It’s a virtual tip of the hat, if you will, showing respect to you with the hope that you might extend the same courtesy.

When do people mutually extend this offer, both are benefited by the exposure from the other’s follower pool. Since no two people are likely have all the same contacts there is rarely a case when there is no potential benefit for both. Although this is a good way to self promote, you need to be cognizant of the fact that the spirit of this activity is to share valauble contacts with others. Mutual following just for purely the sake of self-promotion is frowned upon.

Just getting started on twitter? Looking into twitter’s features to see if it is for you? If so, you are probably asking yourself “What are hashtags in Twitter and how do I use them?”

Hashtags are used in Twitter to put a label on a topic of conversation that you want other to be able to find using the find feature. This allows for easy promotion and easy access to that information.

No formal registry is required. Just pick a hashtag (hopefully not already in use) and include it in your post. Announce to others what that tag means and you’re done!